What people consider is good accuracy for a sub 12 air rifle

chrisjonesbath

chrisjonesbath

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All,

Can I ask what people consider "normal" accuracy for a sub 12 air rifle?

You often hear pellet on pellet at 50 yards blah, blah, but is this considered normal, exceptional or an exaggeration?

Why do I ask? I'm relatively new to PCP shooting and have come back to air rifles in general after many years away. I used to shoot at around 20 meters with my old springer, but I'm now shooting at about 38 meters outdoors on my garden range. I've gone from 40mm spinners, to 20mm spinners to 1" bullseye targets. The spinners were getting a bit tedious as they were easy to hit (I'm working on some 10mm ones to fix that) so I moved to paper targets and this is where I'm beginning to wonder if I'm chasing a unicorn.

I can hit that 5p groups often enough, but I do get flyers that frustrate me, even with sorted and weighed pellets (I've tried many pellets and settled on JSP Exact 8.44, 4.52s). Part of the problem could of course be me and I've tried to improve my technique, but I'm now thinking that maybe I need to move on from my "beginner PCP". I will not name the rifle I have as this is not about a criticism of that.

So I ask, do the likes of the HW100, S510, Daystate Hunstman/Wolverine/Red Wolf etc. really achieve consistent pellet on pellet at 40m or is this just the exception and are 5p groups more the achievable norm?

I know there are many factors at play here, but will an upgrade to my rifle really help me achieve better/more consistent accuracy? Do I need to make the jump from my sub £500 rifle to a seriously premium rifle or are most 3 figure rifles all similar in terms of accuracy once you learn how to shoot them effectively? I do like the mag system on the HW100, but really don't want to still be chasing that unicorn. If I upgrade I want my technique to be holding me back and not my equipement :)

Thoughts?

Chris
 

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That group is nothing for you or the gun to be ashamed of. There will be difference shooting indoors off a shooting table with a front rest or bipod that costs more than your gun, combined with a rear bag or monopod, but does your shooting require it.

Hunting- sub 5p at 38m is fine.
Plinking- fine
Competitive Benchrest- not good enough.

That group could probably be tightened up with a lot cheaper things than an expensive rifle though:
-Extensive pellet testing (die and batch)
-Washing, Weighing & Sorting pellets.

Edit: just re read your post and you're already doing that
 
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chrisjonesbath said:
All,

Can I ask what people consider "normal" accuracy for a sub 12 air rifle?

You often hear pellet on pellet at 50 yards blah, blah, but is this considered normal, exceptional or an exaggeration?

Why do I ask? I'm relatively new to PCP shooting and have come back to air rifles in general after many years away. I used to shoot at around 20 meters with my old springer, but I'm now shooting at about 38 meters outdoors on my garden range. I've gone from 40mm spinners, to 20mm spinners to 1" bullseye targets. The spinners were getting a bit tedious as they were easy to hit (I'm working on some 10mm ones to fix that) so I moved to paper targets and this is where I'm beginning to wonder if I'm chasing a unicorn.

I can hit that 5p groups often enough, but I do get flyers that frustrate me, even with sorted and weighed pellets (I've tried many pellets and settled on JSP Exact 8.44, 4.52s). Part of the problem could of course be me and I've tried to improve my technique, but I'm now thinking that maybe I need to move on from my "beginner PCP". I will not name the rifle I have as this is not about a criticism of that.

So I ask, do the likes of the HW100, S510, Daystate Hunstman/Wolverine/Red Wolf etc. really achieve consistent pellet on pellet at 40m or is this just the exception and are 5p groups more the achievable norm?

I know there are many factors at play here, but will an upgrade to my rifle really help me achieve better/more consistent accuracy? Do I need to make the jump from my sub £500 rifle to a seriously premium rifle or are most 3 figure rifles all similar in terms of accuracy once you learn how to shoot them effectively? I do like the mag system on the HW100, but really don't want to still be chasing that unicorn. If I upgrade I want my technique to be holding me back and not my equipement :)

Thoughts?

Chris
Click to expand...
Tidy group chap. What are you shooting with atm?
 
Pellet on pellet needs to be defined. For me, using 0.177, a 5mm edge to edge group at 40m outdoors is a dream.

At 28m outdoors I have done a 5mm edge to edge once, 6mm a handful of times, 7 to 10mm are more normal for me.

Normally I plink spinners and only shoot groups to test a barrel.
 
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popcorn.webp

:):cool:;)
And so it begins, the never ending search for the next best thing, gun, scope, pellets, its a slippery slope buddy...

But seriously its a bit like how long is a piece of string?
Different people will consider different criteria to be good accuracy.
If you are just plinking in the garden with a BB gun at tin cans at 10m, then how accurate does it need to be.
Or, if you are shooting serious BenchRest (BR) at 50m, trying to hit 2mm bulls, then how accurate does that need to be?
Or, if you are hunting? or shooting FT/HFT?

This is a good article. see linky:
Diff between accuracy and precision

IMHO, the best anyone can do is to put in the time and practice with their set-up, looking at all the basics, eg: hold, head position, cheek weld, breathing, trigger pull, follow through, etc. You will get better, but there are no shortcuts.

Once you start shooting at longer ranges, outside, with wind, etc to contend with, getting good accuracy gets harder.
As you say, lots of peeps claim pellet on pellet, etc, but few can actually do it at longer ranges, (consistently).

I think one of the old airgun mags always had a standing challenge, where they would pay money to anyone who could consistently shoot "pellet on pellet" (or similar) at 50m (or similar) while they photographed/filmed them. As far as I know, no-one ever took them up on the challenge?
 
Gixxerrob said:
Without sounding a d#ck shooting anything less than 50 yards with a good quality sub 12 pcp at the range is a waste of pellets...50 to 100 yards is the norm now imo
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Shooting 50 yards at a range with a sub 12 I will accept.. who on earth is shooting 100 yards with a sub 12? The pellet drop alone is going to be massive, the energy loss of a sub 12 and a hundred yards is going to be spectacular..

I would like to be proven wrong but I don't think anybody is sensibly shooting a hundred yards with a sub 12 with any kind of consistency
 
sagalout said:
Pellet on pellet needs to be defined. For me, using 0.177, a 5mm edge to group at 40m outdoors is a dream.

At 28m outdoors I have done a 5mm edge to edge once, 6mm a handful of times, 7 to 10mm are more normal for me.

Normally I plink spinners and only shoot groups to test a barrel.
Click to expand...
Sounds perfectly acceptable to me.

I suppose it's what makes you smile really. I always think with all my hobbies I'm only competing against myself and bollox to everyone else 😅...

In a nice way of course 😁. But they might have less wind than we do on the south coast, or better eyes, or a myriad of other reasons that they shoot better or worse than me😀
 
Quentyn said:
I would like to be proven wrong but I don't think anybody is sensibly shooting a hundred yards with a sub 12 with any kind of consistency
Click to expand...
Correct, see last sentence at post #7.... lots claim to be Dead eye Dick, but not many can actually prove it.
NB: I am deffo NOT any sort of crackshot....
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
I suppose it's what makes you smile really. I always think with all my hobbies I'm only competing against myself and f.ck everyone else 😅...
Click to expand...

That's exactly what it is. Unless you are a competitive target shooter - as in competing against others, not your own previous achievements - acceptable accuracy is entirely subjective as a measure for target shooting.

My mate Dave could geld a bluebottle on a target at fifty yards with a TX from prone. But he's twenty years younger. I couldn't get back up from prone at my age, let alone hit anything smaller than a dustbin lid at that range. 🤣
 
Gixxerrob said:
Without sounding a d#ck shooting anything less than 50 yards with a good quality sub 12 pcp at the range is a waste of pellets...50 to 100 yards is the norm now imo
Click to expand...

Yeah, course it is..... oh hang on, are you actually serious? Nah, can't be.....Homer face palm

IMHO, theres a reason why most comps, FT/HFT, BR, etc rarely go over 50m....
 
Agt vixen 2 on the knock down reset target 70 yards and a target that was on the electronic shuttle out at 70 yards using my vukcan 2 both outdoors...Next time im up the range I'll get some vids of the spinners at 87 yards being hit consistently and stones on the back bund at 98 yards being hit...
 

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Gixxerrob said:
Agt vixen 2 on the knock down reset target 70 yards and a target that was on the electronic shuttle out at 70 yards using my vukcan 2 both outdoors...Next time im up the range I'll get some vids of the spinners at 87 yards being hit consistently and stones on the back bund at 98 yards being hit...
Click to expand...
Well. What ever else I'd be very happy with that.
 
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